


At the Doorway

by lollyflop



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/M, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6222907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lollyflop/pseuds/lollyflop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sailor Pluto is asked to help the Neo-Tokyo royalty with an unexpected complication. What she finds is love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When I heard the marble door sliding open, I confess that I nearly went weak in the knees. It was a wash of emotions. Distinctly, a desperate, greedy joy that made my skin crawl with pleasure and need. But I also felt the mechanisation of my training click into gear, tensing my muscles, leaving me ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.  
I raised the Garnet Rod, barring the way into the ether of time. I turned on my heel, my whole body ready for a fight. I opened my mouth to issue a warning, to fulfill my duty as the Guardian of Time.  
But the sight of him knocked the breath from my lungs.  
His eyes danced deep blue in the light of the mists. His face had lost some of its youth, replaced by a stoic expression that I knew all too well. It had been a hundred years since I had seen him last. He was feeling the ache that comes with life in suspended time.  
When a smirk touched his lips, however, it warmed my heart to see him as I remembered him. As I thought of him in the empty hours.  
“Y-Your Highness,” I mumbled, remembering my social graces, dipping into an awkward curtsy, leaning on my staff for support.  
He chuckled at that, and I felt a smile crack across my face.  
“No need for formalities, Setsuna.” He stepped forward and closed some of the distance between us. I rubbed my fingertips together at my side, trying to remember the sensation of shaking his hand.  
“If I don’t call you king, what else could I call you?”  
His expression was grim once more. “Mamoru, please,” he replied. His voice was gruff, covered in dust.  
“Mamoru.” I imagined the taste of the name. A blade of grass, a warm breeze, a fingertip before turning the page of a very old book. Honey.  
He shifted on his feet. “Everyone calls me Endymion. It’s infuriating,” he said, by way of making some conversation, I supposed. He shrugged boyishly, looking to the floor.  
“Then it’s a treat not to infuriate you.”  
Our eyes met and we smiled together.  
He stepped forward and like the brush of a lover’s kiss, his fingers swept a strand of hair behind my ear. I couldn’t help the rapturous sigh that escaped my lips, nor the way my body swooned beneath the intimate gesture. His eyes were warm and bright as they bore into mine. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you,” he thought aloud.  
“A century,” I supplied. I touched one of his silver cufflinks, feeling the intricate crest of the Neo Silver Kingdom. “Many things have changed in that time.”  
He cast his eyes away. A raw nerve.  
“Many things have not,” I whispered, daring to reach up and touch his cheek. In some kingdoms, this very gesture would mean losing a hand, losing a life. This would be an affront, an attack. Unwanted.  
His hand caught mine and he pressed a kiss to my knuckles. My eyelids fluttered in beat with my heart.  
He did not let my hand go.  
My breath was quickened. I wanted to step away and hide my face, to apologize for this wanton shame. At the same time, there were a great many impulses I wished to follow that were far more wanton. I blushed.  
He swallowed and my head spun. Our touches affected him, too. I raked my teeth across my bottom lip.  
“I’m afraid this isn’t a social call,” he said, abruptly detaching himself and standing tall. Ah, King Endymion. There he was.  
I took a steadying breath. “How can I be of service to my king?”  
His eyes flicked to mine. “The Silver Kingdom must have an heir,” he stated, his voice flat. “And we have none.”  
I was incensed. “And how can the Guardian of Time be of service in this matter?”  
He folded his arms behind him. “Our data suggests that the Silver Crystal has placed our subjects in a state of magical stasis. No one ages. No one dies. No one is born.”  
I nodded my understanding, but kept my eyes averted.  
“This stasis must be broken for the queen to–”  
I drew a sharp breath and swallowed. He realized this was hard for me to hear, so he stopped while I collected myself.  
“To break the stasis would put Her Majesty in grave danger and would be taboo,” I insisted. “Is it worth having an heir if we lose our protector?”  
“It would be my greatest happiness,” he whispered.  
Everything snapped into place in my mind. I chuckled darkly, my eyes seeking out his gaze. “She sent you.”  
He said nothing at that.  
“Send her,” I said, my shoulders shrugging. “If you are both fool enough to risk the life of the messiah, I can do nothing to stop you. If you command me to break a taboo, I will do it.”  
He turned and stepped into the doorway. “Setsuna,” he breathed. “Thank you.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Queen comes to Pluto.

My mind ran in circles. My muscles were tense, clenched with anxious waiting. ‘Everything must be perfect, professional, polite,’ I reminded myself for the thousandth time.   
I knew I must accede to her wishes, no matter my own concerns. From experience, I knew that when the queen decided to risk herself for what she felt was the good of others, nothing would stand in her way.  
Not even those tasked with keeping her safe.  
She was much like her mother in this way, I reflected. Her mother had seen the destruction of her people coming and had chosen to sacrifice herself so that the future might be brighter. I stood beside her then, committing a taboo with love and gratitude in my heart. I was willing to die, too.  
In this way, I realized, the queen and I had very much in common. In another life, I might’ve embraced the mirroring of our souls. Instead, it left me feeling cold.  
The moment the door finally opened, I drew a breath that stretched for an eternity. Seeing the queen and messiah of the world was a world-shaking moment, regardless of my personal feelings. Slowly, my eyes slipped up her form, taking in her demeanor. She had chosen a simple dress for our meeting, not an elaborate gown of the court. No crown upon her head, no staff of power by her side; she wished to humble herself before me, to project the illusion that we stood as peers.  
I had no intention of recognizing this gesture. I dipped into a deep curtsy, which I held as I bowed my head and addressed her, “Your Supreme Majesty.”  
“Please, Setsuna,” she said, kneeling slightly and touching my arm. Her voice was richer, more melodic with age, but it had the tinkling of crystals at its edges. “My friend and ally. You know I hate that formal stuff.”  
Informal vernacular, personal contact, a bent knee. Maneuvering. Manipulation.  
“My Queen,” I replied, standing tall. “I advise strongly agains–”  
“My husband has informed me that you voiced some well-meant misgivings.” Her tone was sharp, and her words meant to cut. She finished with a definitive, “But this is my decision.”  
The edict of a queen.  
What else was I to do? At her word, I would commit any taboo. Numbly, I nodded. “Then you must know the consequences of your choice,” I insisted. She made no protest, so I continued. “I can attempt to halt the stasis on your body, but no one can block the power of the crystal. Not completely. Its magic will fight me. Fight you.”  
She bobbed her head with understanding. Her face was marble.  
“You will put yourself at risk. You will put the world at risk. You will put your unborn at risk.”  
She swallowed, her eyes soft and sad, but her expression did not waver. “This is my decision,” she repeated.  
I drew a breath and released it slowly to steel my nerves. I raised the Garnet Rod high and directed my energy into it. No words came to my lips, and I felt no need to search for them: I simply directed the orb over her womb and released the energy.  
She gasped so softly, like the fluttering of a butterfly in a hurricane. Red light filled the space, and her eyes went wide. White light flooded the doorway beyond the chamber, and I knew the crystal was desperately trying to protect its master. The brilliance overwhelmed my vision.  
At once, I felt the power knock me away. I pulled my energy back and marveled at the queen before me.  
Bathed in pink light, she had grown at least a foot in height her hair now puddled on the ground. I could only guess at what this meant. Her eyes were darker, like bottomless sapphires, twinkling with magic.  
She blinked, a bit bewildered. Her face looked like the young girl I had first met, the clumsy faun with no control over her limbs, the silly, smiling thing. The thing I missed, the thing which my heart still had love for: Usagi. “D-did it work?”  
I smiled warmly. I said the words that felt like a knife in my heart: “There’s only one way to find out.”  
She looked back at the doorway and seemed sheepish for a moment.  
“Go to Endymion,” I said.  
She laughed, a girlish giggle that endeared her to me again. She skittered through the doorway and left me alone again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Queen returns and shares a moment with Pluto.

She was tired.  
I was tired.  
The Garnet Rod was even tired.  
We were sitting side by side on a marble bench, dragged from inside the Palace. The Garnet Rod glowed dimly. From outside the doorway, the crystal glowed brightly, as if disapproving of the work we did in secret.  
The queen’s round belly stretched her official state gown. She looked to be about seven months pregnant beneath the gauzy layers.  
I closed my eyes to count. Not seven. Fifty four.  
Fifty four long months on earth. An eternity at the gate. She would visit weekly and I would charge her with power to fight off the stasis in her womb, in her body. But it was a losing fight against the power of the crystal that worked so diligently to protect her from any harm–even if that “harm” was a child.  
She rubbed her hands across its swell, like a fortune teller gazing into a crystal ball. “Do you think–” She stopped herself, her face flushed.  
“Go on, my queen.”  
She looked at me, her exhausted eyes pleading. “Do you think we could deliver the baby now?”  
I inhaled sharply.  
“Ami could do it,” she said, her voice small.  
“What is her opinion?”  
The queen averted her eyes. “She wants me to wait until–” She swallowed, shaking her head. She sighed and answered, “She wants me to wait.”  
“Then wait you must,” I replied. “Everything in its time.”  
“What if we try more sessions?” Her face was hopeful, determined.  
I bit my lip. “Serenity, we have no way of knowing how this magic affects your child.”  
Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Please?” The desperation in her voice caught me off guard. I studied her more closely. The veins in her pale skin were standing out against her pale complexion. Her skin was dull, ashen. Her eyes, gray with worry, were rimmed with red and purple. She looked like a ghostly copy of herself.  
“We will move to two a week,” I capitulated. “But in between, I will need to rest. The doorway will be unguarded.”  
Her eyes shifted, searching the mists of time. “I will send a Sailor Soldier to cover for you.”  
My ire rose. “That is not permitted!”  
She raised an eyebrow. “Many things are not permitted,” she bit. Her hand covered her belly protectively. “We will do what we must.”  
I checked myself. ‘The queen. This is the queen, the messiah. Her will is your duty,’ I reminded myself silently.  
“I will only do this if I am allowed to train my apprentice.”  
The queen drew a long breath. “Of course,” she exhaled. “Who would you prefer?”  
I thought on that a moment. “Uranus,” I decided. “I like her focus.”  
Serenity smiled. “Perfect. I will call for her right away.”  
“Then I will see you Thursday,” I sighed.  
“I’m truly sorry to burden you so,” she said, her voice genuine. “I know this isn’t easy. I appreciate your work. My child will carry on the peace that we’ve all worked for.”  
“You could maintain that peace,” I replied.  
She swallowed, her eyes unfocused as she looked out at the nothingness around us. “No,” she sighed. “The stasis of the crystal is not complete.”  
This idea shocked me. “How do you know?”  
“There’s an old lady who runs a tiny little bakery in my old neighborhood,” the queen reflected, her eyes gaining some warmth and sparkle at the memories. “She has one of those faces that you just remember. It’s distinct and expressive. I hadn’t seen her in about fifty years. I stopped in her shop one day and… I noticed it.”  
“What, my queen?”  
She shrugged her shoulders in a way that reminded me of a shy little girl. “Lines. New lines. All over her face. A little more stoop to her back. Age spots at her hairline,” she explained. “She was aging. I’m sure of it. Subtly, but she is aging. When I saw it once, I saw it everywhere. The crackle of a crow’s foot at the corner of Mianko’s eyes. A silver hair glinting out of Mokato’s ponytail. Endymion’s hands.”  
I swallowed thickly. “So you are not eternal?”  
She smirked. “I am,” she replied. “But Endymion is not.”  
The wind was knocked out of me completely. ‘No,’ my mind begged.  
“If I must go on without him…” She shook her head. “I couldn’t do without my precious ones.”  
I covered her hand with mine. ‘My dear, sweet queen,’ I thought. ‘Perhaps your soul is a mirror to mine after all.’  
We sat in silence until the Garnet Orb’s light faded and the queen’s cheeks were pink and rosy. She stood without a word, gave me a warm embrace and stepped back through the doorway. Back to her husband, back to her people, back to her silent sorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pluto makes contact.

The glow was almost too faint to see. I held the Garnet Rod over her swollen belly while she slept, her pale face a death mask of marble. The queen’s hair looked pale, dry, brittle. Her chest barely rose with each breath, and fell like a sinking grave. The light of the rod was barely enough to drench her gossamer gown in a muted pink glow.  
Our sessions had gone like this for weeks. The queen slept nearly all the time now, her eyelids striped with blue and purple veins. I would hold the rod over her until my back, arms and core shook with weariness. I would lie down until her grey eyes would blink open, until her cracked lips would form a little “o” of confusion.   
Then, I’d begin again.  
I had settled in for this routine, desperate to bring this little light into the world. But all at once, Serenity’s belly began to move, and I couldn’t stop my pleased smile. I reached out, but checked myself. ‘To touch a sovereign so intimately–’ I admonished. But checking the queen’s face, I saw no hint of her returning to consciousness.  
Tentatively, I just grazed the swell of her belly with the tips of two fingers. I felt the flesh bend forward into my touch, and I gasped, seeing the light of the Garnet Orb double.  
The queen did not stir.  
I dared to spread my hand out. The baby moved again, more forcefully.  
I exhaled, “A strong thing, aren’t you?”  
Perhaps it was my imagination, but her belly seemed to respond to my words with kicks and flutters. I had never seen a single movement in all my time with Her Majesty, and suddenly… this.  
As if in a trance, I found myself leaning forward, whispering prayers for the one-day royal of Neo-Tokyo, to the uncertain future the child would rule over. I sat like that a long time, chanting blessings and hopes, the mound dancing with activity.  
At length, I pressed a kiss to the queen’s belly. The child stilled, seemingly slipping back into rest, and the Garnet Rod’s brilliant light faded back to its dull glow.  
I glanced up at the young queen’s sleeping face. Her rest was completely undisturbed.  
I drew a breath. A guilty thought entered my mind: ‘The burden of these last few months is squarely on me.’  
I drew the Garnet Rod back and cradled it to my chest as I caught a dreamless nap.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come.

I was pacing, wringing my fingers and clenching my teeth.  
I told myself over and over to breathe. Relax. But I could not stop the agony in my mind, growing with every passing second. If we lost the child. If we lost the queen. If something went wrong, if the magic was too much, if if if.  
When the door finally began to move, every nerve sprang to attention. I drew a breath I might never let out.  
“Setsuna,” the king’s voice greeted. His cheeks were flushed and in his long arms, he clutched a little bundle. “I’d like to introduce Princess Serenity, the Small Lady of the Kingdom of Neo-Tokyo, Heiress of the Moon Kingdom.”  
I walked to his side. He adjusted the blanket to show me a little round face topped with a delicate tuft of cotton candy. I rested my chin on his shoulder. Slowly, I reached out to touch the soft, pink hair when the child opened her eyes.  
Garnet.  
I gasped. Before I could stop myself, I gathered the bundle out of Endymion’s grasp. I pressed my nose to the princess’s button nose and laughed. She made the smallest noise of delight in return, and touched my cheek with her tiny fingers.  
“Hello, Small Lady,” I chuckled, taking a seat. I held the infant close and rocked her against my shoulder. Slowly, her eyes drifted closed. My heart wrapped itself around this moment and I blinked back unbidden tears.  
The king placed a hand on my back. Startled, I looked up at him, sure that confusion was written all over my face.  
The king’s expression was disconcerted. He looked back and forth from me to the girl, his daughter. “She has let no one hold her for more than a minute without a fuss.” At length, he added, “Not even the queen.”  
I looked out into the nothingness of time and pressed a kiss to the babe’s forehead. She snuggled into the contact.  
She knew her protector.  
The king was before me, kneeling. He slid a finger under my chin and lifted my face to his. With agonizing slowness, he closed the distance between us. He placed a gentle kiss on my lips, his arms draping around me. In that moment, I felt the familiar call of something primal, something I’d felt lifetimes ago, with Haruka, Michiru and an infant. ‘Family,’ my mind echoed, willing my heart to surrender to this sudden warmth.  
But in the next instant, he was walking back through the doorway, the little bundle safely in his arms. Back to her mother, back to her duty.  
And my body racked with sobs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small Lady makes up her mind.

I turned on my heel, ready to crush the invaders. I stood tall, placing myself between the doorway and the mists of time. My duty.  
The door opened slowly. I drew my breath, I exhaled. I held the Garnet Rod before me, poised to strike. My purpose.  
The words swelled in my throat as the marble scraped together. I dug in my heels and scowled. My calling.  
I felt the energy rise, ready to crest against the strangers from outside our realm.  
Instead, I froze.  
“Pluto,” the small voice called.  
My eyes went wide. She should not be here. She should not be alone.  
“Y–Your Highness,” I replied, dipping to my knees, bowing my head.  
“Pluto…” The girl stepped forward, tentatively. I heard her footsteps come faster and she broke into a run. She threw her arms around me, sobbing. “Puu, please help me!”  
My heart broke. “Small Lady, what’s wrong?”  
“Mama–” she sobbed. “The crystal has trapped her. I’m so afraid!”  
I sat back on my heels and took the girl by her shoulders. “The crystal is only protecting her, Small Lady. When the time is right, she will be free,” I said, repeating the same lie I’d told the other soldiers. In truth, Mamoru and I had discussed the queen’s state at length, and come to no conclusion. Ami had guesses about the state of the queen, and her scans suggested only a coma, but we could know nothing one way or another.  
We trusted the crystal to do its magic. To protect us as it had done for millennia.  
“I have to do something!” The young girl faced me, her eyes glowing with determination. “A senshi does what must be done for the kingdom, for her precious ones!”  
I inhaled sharply. “Small Lady, you are no senshi.”  
Fresh tears brimmed in her garnet eyes. “But I must be! I must protect you all!”  
“How will you do that, Small Lady?”  
She looked suddenly sheepish. “I’ll get Sailor Moon to help us.”  
“Serenity–” I swallowed thickly, rising to my feet. “That is taboo.”  
The princess’s eyes followed mine. I saw a quiet resolve settle into her features. “Of course,” she replied. “You’re right. Forgive me, Puu.”  
I blinked, absorbing her sudden change of heart.  
She threw her arms wide for a hug, wrapping herself around my legs. I chuckled, patting the top of her head. “Now go back to your papa,” I sighed.  
The girl stepped back, out of my reach, and held aloft one of the keys from my belt. I was too gobsmacked to stop her from stepping through the doorway that appeared.  
I watched with a mother’s horror as she fell backwards. I reached to grab her hand, but she was gone. I had half a mind to follow her, but I stopped myself. ‘She is going to her mother,’ I reminded myself. ‘There is nowhere safer.’  
Slowly, a chuckle freed itself from my tight chest, and I allowed myself to laugh.  
“Small Lady,” I sighed. “You may become a senshi yet.”


End file.
